Split Realities
by DymphnaKG
Summary: The game has happened, and the kids have won. They have returned to Earth, and life is normal. Or is it? Oh poor Rose.
1. In the Psych Ward

"So tell me, how are you feeling this morning?" The man asked. He was more than just a man, he was one of the many doctors doing their morning rounds, giving out the medicine, checking their vitals, making sure they eat their food so the patients won't get sick later. He was gentle, with salt and pepper hair, his face round, along with his glasses, and had a kind smile on his face. As he placed the blood pressure monitor on her arm, he looked at his patient, and noticed that she seemed to look more alert.

"I am feeling well this morning, I was finally able to have a fitful rest for once." She turned her head, and gave a small smile to the man, who was now unwrapping the contraption from her arm, and writing down the numbers.

"You need to eat more, Rose, your blood results came back during the night, and your sugar is on the low side. But you do look much better." Rose nods, letting him know she understood, and sat up more in her bed and reached to her left side where her breakfast was. She looked at her hospital brand breakfast, which consisted of fake eggs, an orange, bread inside package paper, and weak coffee. Yuck. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue in disgust, and took the orange to satisfy the doctor. She did respect him for he was one of the few people in the hospital to look at her with pity. After being in the psych ward for over four months, he was also one of the few friends she had in this place.

"Do I have the appointment with the psych today?" Rose inquired. It wasn't long after being in the psych ward that the days and nights started to blend together, and she didn't care enough to continue counting days.

"Yes, I believe so. You're going to be meeting with Mr. Cheung today. Miss Blaine won't be in until Friday, if you want to wait for her."

"No, I can see him, that won't be a problem. They all have records anyway." Rose had finished peeling the fruit, and started to eat it piece by piece. She really would rather throw it at the wall, and stay under the covers for the day, but that wouldn't be productive, and that wouldn't get her out of here faster. It's been too long, and she's dying to breathe fresh air again. Stupid brain. Stupid memories. Stupid reality.

"Okay, your appointment is around 1:15, so after lunch just go to the doctor's office and wait in room two." Another nod in acknowledgement went to the doctor's way, then he patted her on the shoulder. "You're a good kid, Rose, you'll get out soon. All the support you've been getting is really making you better." And with that he left the spacious room with the door slightly ajar. As soon as he left, she slumped her shoulders, which while he was there were poised, and she dropped the orange on the floor. Rose rubbed her eyes and groaned, then looked back at the table and saw her cup of pills. Rose picked them up and swallowed the four pills dry, then tried to fight the tears in her eyes because the taste of the pills disintegrating on her tongue was absolutely horrible. But it's the pain and the taste that makes her cope with being in a real world, a world where there are no imps attacking her, where her friends and lovers were not covered in multi colored blood, where she didn't lose her mom to a psychotic creature with wings.

It's been almost a year since she woke up that one spring morning to realize that the game was over, that they won, and not a single soul remembers.

* * *

_Author's notes: _

_Hey there [: I've been thinking about writing this fic for a few weeks now, and I've just begun writing it! I hope if there are any spelling errors or formatting errors you can let me know so I can fix it. I don't have a Beta reader, so I tried my best. _

_This is pretty much going to be kinda sad I guess? But not too depressing I hope. Maybe it's just because I'm writing it that it doesn't seem as sad as I feel like it should be, but yeah. Chapter Two should be up soon. Feel free to leave me comments and messages and hopefully if people like it I will continue on! [: _


	2. Meeting The Doctor

Time passed, and Rose did nothing spectacular. Colored a few things here, listened to some music there, ate a bit and showered a lot. She loved the feel of the cold water on her skin. Almost as if it was cool summer rain tapping on her face, her shoulders, and back. She missed the outside sunshine, she missed the smell of morning dew, of being able to see her friends on her own free time and being secure. Before she knew it, it was 12:30, so Rose went to the second room and took a seat. She looked at her reflection in the glass door, and she didn't fight the urge to make a face back at the reflection. Without her black lipstick, she looked plain, ordinary. She still had tiny freckles scattered across her nose, but she was paler than usual. Her eyes looked sad instead of curious, almost lackluster. At least they weren't manic, or dead any longer. She had to pull her face away, then she positioned herself in a proper manner before anyone saw her slumped in the chair.

Mr. Cheung had come early from his lunch break, and was pleasantly surprised to see the girl in the seat waiting. She looked prim and proper, even though he could tell by her face that she was sad and alone. He cleared his throat, and she moved her eyes from the ground to him, and she sent him a proper smile. "Hello, miss Lalonde. I know you don't usually see me, but I think we can work well together. I'm Mr. Cheung, or you can call me Bill. He smiled back at her and she stood up so they could go into his office.

"So, now, I have read over your papers, but I would like to hear it from you personally. You know how each person can hear the same thing many different ways, so I'd like to hear it from the originator." He took out a pad and a pen after they had both sat down, and Rose placed her hands on her lap.

"Do you want to ask questions, or should I just talk?"

"I think I'll ask the main question, and you can continue from there. What happened? What led you to come here?"

Before speaking, Rose looked down at her hands, examining her fingers. What once were pretty and alternating colors of purple and black on her nails, were now plain, chewed, and the fingers were healing after being bitten at the cuticles. She looked back up with him, and she told him to brace himself for a long story. He replied that he was prepared.


	3. Distant Memories?

"Rosey baby what happened, are you alright?!" A shattered glass is heard faintly, then there are hurried footsteps heard going towards the bedroom. Over the noise of the footsteps are the cracks of thunder from outside, and the prickles of rain splattering against the windows. The bed creaks softly as her mother sits down and holds her screaming child close. There are tears already soaking into her night shirt, but she couldn't care less about it. Rose was finally able to quiet down after a while, but her eyes wouldn't stop tearing up, and she couldn't stop shaking. Her mother pats her daughter's hair, and whispers soft nothings into her head. There were muffled words, sentences that could not be heard. The mother gently pulls her away so she can look into Rose's eyes. "Tell me what happened."

"I – you're – here. You're alive!" That was all Rose was able to muster after hiccupping through her words, and moved back to hug her mother close.

"Of course I'm here baby, where else would I be? You must have had a terrible dream, you poor thing." Her mother coos, then pulls her away again and looks at her daughter.

Rose wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath, trying to compose herself like she always knew how to do. "I started playing a game with my friends on the computer, and it was raining just like this, and it took forever to get in, but the world was going to end, and it did, but I survived, and it took years to go through the game, and you died and John's dad died, and oh my god what year is it?!" Rose suddenly jumped out of her mother's grasp and ran to her calendar. It was still April 13. She looked at her room, slowly spinning in a circle, examining everything as if she was looking at it for the first time. She looked at her mother, and the look she was getting back almost hurt her. Her mother looked so pained, so confused and lost and scared for her daughter, and Rose couldn't stand to look at her face any longer. She felt more silent tears run down her face, and she smiled. She looked at her hands, and they were small again, premature and tiny. She ran to her mirror in the room, and her thirteen year old self looked right back at her. Except … her eyes. They were no longer the vibrant shade of violet. They were now a light hazel color. The smile she had on her face fell quickly, and she was hit with the harsh realization that to her mother, she was just having a dream. That none of the trials she went through was real. That she was just asleep for a few hours.

Her mother slowly crept up behind her and turned her around when she got close enough. "Rose, dear, please, you're scaring me. Nothing happened. You just had a really rough dream. Who is John by the way, is he a cute boy at your school? It's been raining all night. Do you want something to drink?"

After she was turned around, Rose stopped laughing and looked at her mother. She sighed, and said almost in a whisper "…you don't remember, do you…" as more as a statement than a question.

"Of course not, how can I remember a dream you had? Please, just go back to bed and get some rest. If you need to, I'll let you stay out of school today, tomorrow you are going back. Now go to sleep. Good night baby." While her mother was speaking, Rose was being led to her bed again, and was tucked in. After getting a kiss good night, and seeing her mom shut her door, she immediately jumped out of bed and ran to her laptop, which was still in its kitten cozy on the floor. She opened the laptop, and searched for Pesterchum on her desktop. For some strange reason, the app was not there. Instead, there was Skype. She logged herself on, and saw the names of her closest friends there. Of course they were online: A, it was earlier for them since the three of them lived out west, and B, they all have some case of insomnia.

Rose eagerly messaged the three of them separately, and waited for their responses. The first one to respond was John.

TT: John I am very pleased to inform you that we have finally beat the game, we have climbed the highest mountain and now we were rewarded with our lives back to normal. This is truly fantastic.

EB: uh yay? What game are we talking about here? Unless you mean like the raid in WoW? Because that was a really hard last boss, man, but I'm glad you're happy about that.

TT: Oh no.

EB: what? Oh no what? I think that's the shortest sentence I have ever seen you type. Is something wrong? Rose?

Rose couldn't stop the shaking again. Her heart froze, and there was a terrible feeling in her gut. She felt like she was going to be sick. _He…he doesn't remember…Mom didn't remember, but she wasn't an active player even though Roxy was. He doesn't remember…_' Those last few words were all that she could think. Another message came through, it was Jade.

TT: Jade I am extremely happy to say that everything has been turned back to normal and my mother is alive and well. I was wondering if Bec was back with you, as we did have to attack Bec Noir.

GG: Rose you're so silly! Of course I have Bec here, he never leaves my side! I think you just had a bad dream, because you never mentioned your mom being dead before. I'm glad that everything is okay now! :)

She couldn't believe it, why couldn't they remember all those long days of fighting, and those nights of always looking over your back, waiting for the inevitable to happen? Never knowing when you're going to die, never knowing who is going to kill whom, always trying to keep everyone calm. Seeing heads detached from bodies, hearing the agonizing screams of pain, and ending up on that rock, drinking life away like it didn't even matter. Falling in love, with someone who may not exist anymore from the looks of it. Someone who Rose was so devoted to, she may never see her again. Shattered, Rose sobs heavily into her hands. It was inevitable. _They must have returned to a new Alternia. None of them must have remembered what happened. That may be the way it just is._ _Why, though, why was the game so cruel to leave me the only one to remember? _

"Why…" That was the only thing Rose can say to herself out loud, even though it was a shaky whisper. She wipes her eyes and sniffles as she hears the ding of a new message. It was Dave.

TT: It seems we have finally beat the game, and we all have returned to our respective places. After years of trudging through something you did not even want to do in the first place, we have finally did it. How do you feel about that Strider?

TG: Rose I have no idea what the fuck you are talkin about

TT: It seems you, too, are unaware of what has happened.

TG: you ok? the other guys are talkin about you and you're worrying everyone

TG: something you wanna talk about? do you need to be psychoanalyzed for once

TG: i think the world is ending cause that is just mind blowing

TT: No, the world is not ending. I think I just had a bad dream. It is nothing too serious. I do not need to be analyzed.

TG: wanna talk about the dream then? we can just have a giant talk session and everything will be ok

TT: Like a feelings jam you mean? Please call it a feelings jam.

TG: yeah whatever that sounds chill

TT: Just give me a moment to look presentable, first.

TG: isn't it already like 2 there like who cares what you look like at 2

TT: I do.

TG: fair enough

After calming herself down some more, she went to fix herself up. She went back to the mirror, and saw her face. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, tears stained her cheeks, her face was flushed, and her hair was a mess. She went and brushed her hair, cleaned her face, and for the hell of it, put on black lipstick. When she was finished, she wasn't able to look in her own eyes. So she looked at her lips, and almost broke down again. "I can't believe I may never see her again…" Her bottom lip started to quiver, and she bit it hard, trying to hold it back. Rose then hears the sound of a receiving message. She walks back to her bed, and accepts the video call. After a moment, Dave appears on her screen, without his shades. When Rose finally is able to see Dave, she can't help but put her hands over her mouth to try to muffle the sobs. Dave, who at first was smirking when he came on the screen, immediately started to try to calm her down.

"Rose, Rose please stop crying. What happened man? Is it that bad? Did someone hurt you? Are you alright? Please, say something."

Rose shakes her head no, her short hair flying back and forth. She bites the flesh of her thumb as she sobs more, completely breaking down in front of one of her best friends. Dave, still dumbfounded, starts speak with more worry than she's ever head before in her life.

"You're scaring the shit out of me, Lalonde. This isn't you. Where did calm and composed Rose go? Try to breathe man. In and out. You know what to do."

She had her eyes squeezed shut, and when she heard Dave speak again, she slowly opened her eyes to look back at her friend. When Dave sees how broken she looks on the screen, he can't help the tears starting to form in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall. He has to be the strong one right now, there is no other choice.

"Take your time. Breathe in and breathe out. Just like you told Jade and John and me before. Just relax. Ok? I'm not leaving, you're fine. Just breathe."

Rose takes a shaky breath in, and an ever weaker breath out. Over time, she calms down again, and she can no longer make tears. She wipes her face with a blanket on her bed, and sighs heavily.

"Now what the fuck happened, Rose? "

"…your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"They're brown."

"Rose." Dave didn't know what to say. They have always been brown. She knew that. This wasn't the first time they used the video to talk. Dave tried to speak slowly and calmly, he didn't want to upset her more than she already was. "They have always been brown."

"I…I knew that." What once were striking red eyes, were now a dark brown. They have always been red, ever since they first met. They have been talking for a few years, how is it that they are now this regular color? How did no one else see it this way?

Silence on both ends. Dave, unsure what to say or do, just silently waits for Rose to speak. She tries to calm herself some more.

"And…my eyes have always…?"

"…yeah."

"Never been different?"

"Rose."

"Yeah?" She looks up at the camera, her face looking helpless and pleading.

"Give me your address, I'm going to head over."

"Dave, no, you have school don't you? I'll be ok."

"Rose, no, this is not fucking ok! I have never seen you act like this, man. You can't just cry and look so fucking destroyed and tell me you're ok at the same time. That shit doesn't fly with me. I'm going to fucking get on a plane and head over there and help you get better alright?"

"But you live out in Texas. What will your brother say to that?"

"I'm pretty sure he'll be cool with it. He trusts me enough to know how to take care of things. Look, I'm going to come as soon as I can."


End file.
